William Gardner Smith
William Gardner Smith was an influential African American writer and journalist, born on February 6, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His early life was shaped by experiences of racism and violence in the South Philadelphia ghetto, but he excelled academically and showed a strong interest in writing from a young age. After graduating high school at the age of sixteen, he worked as a reporter before serving in the U.S. Army as a clerk typist in occupied Berlin. Smith published his first novel, "Last of the Conquerors," in 1948, addressing complex race relations among American troops.
He later moved to France, where he became part of a vibrant expatriate community of writers and intellectuals. His novel "South Street," published in 1954, solidified his reputation as a significant voice in the black militant protest literature of the time. Throughout his career, Smith worked in various journalism roles, including as a news editor for Agence France-Presse, covering major race riots in America during the 1960s. He married three times and had children, but his personal life was marked by a desire for freedom and a resistance to conventional stability. Smith's life was cut short by cancer, leading to his death on November 5, 1974, but his contributions to literature and journalism remain impactful.
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Subject Terms
William Gardner Smith
- Born: February 6, 1927
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: November 5, 1974
- Place of death: Thiais, France
Biography
William Gardner Smith was born on February 6, 1927, to Edith Smith in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1934, his mother married Douglass Stanley Earle, with whom she had three children. While Smith liked his half brothers and sister, he did not get along with his stepfather.
The South Philadelphia ghetto neighborhood of his youth was filled with racism, corruption, and violence. Smith concentrated on school and part-time work: He had jobs in a grocery store when he was nine and in a photography studio when he was thirteen. By the age of eleven, he had read all of Ernest Hemingway and much of Somerset Maugham. He was a talented student and continued to excel at Benjamin Franklin High School, expanding his interests to such extracurricular activities as being captain of the fencing team, a cheerleader, a school photographer, the editor of the school newspaper and yearbook, and a judge in the student court. Encouraged by his English teacher to pursue writing and helped by the principal to secure a part-time position with the Pittsburgh Courier, he graduated in January, 1944, at age sixteen, salutatorian of his class.
He worked full time as a reporter until drafted into the U.S. Army in January, 1946, to serve as a clerk typist in occupied Berlin, Germany. Upon his release, he enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia and finished writing his first novel, Last of the Conquerors. Dealing with race relations between black and white American troops in Germany, one of very few fictional accounts of this subject, it was published in 1948.
In 1949, he married his high-school sweetheart, Mary Sewell, and began to write full time. In 1951, they moved to France to give new life to a marriage that was disintegrating. Mary’s search for a job in England marked the end of the marriage, with the divorce made final in 1957. Smith confessed that a life of commitment stifled him. He needed freedom. He said: “I am absolutely unhappy paying a mortgage, paying an insurance policy, buying furniture… . I cannot stand the confinement and the safety… . I can’t stand to be settled for life. I want to move. I want to live, to discover something.”
With Mary gone and his sole income coming from articles in Ebony and Jet, Smith depended on the many parties thrown by his circle of friends for much of his sustenance. More important was the intellectual stimulation provided by such expatriate protest writers as Richard Wright, Chester Himes, and James Baldwin. The 1954 publication of South Street improved his financial circumstances considerably. One of the first black militant protest novels, it followed the black social protest tradition of the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Marrying again in 1961 and fathering a child, Smith left France in 1964 to be assistant editor of Ghana Television in Accra, soon being promoted to director of the Institute of Journalism. In 1966, the government of Ghana was overthrown by a military coup and Smith was ordered out. He returned to Paris as the news editor of English-Language Services for Agence France- Presse.
In 1967, Smith was assigned to cover race riots in America, most notably in Cleveland; New York; Detroit; Brooklyn; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. His accounts on the rioting garnered him many invitations to lecture at conferences and to appear on radio and television. In 1970, he married for the third time and had a child. Chest pains in 1973 gave way to a diagnosis of cancer. After two operations, Smith died on November 5, 1974.